How "Broad City" is the voice millennial women need

In a time when politics dominates almost every aspect of our lives, watching Broad City presents a fun and engaging way to stay up-to-date with the current state of US government administration.

The general synopsis of the show is that it’s about two girls in their twenties trying to live their best lives while navigating relationships, jobs and family in New York City. It’s like if How I Met Your Mother and HBO’s Girls merged together.

Co-creators and co-stars of Broad City, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer play the two main characters that embrace an open, sex positive, politically motivated attitude. As well as the unique humour of the comedy series, the progressive outlook of the characters has always been the reason for the strength of the show.

Albeit for entertainment, both Jacobson and Glazer teach viewers how to bolster female empowerment. In a show that is so charged with female power, it makes complete sense that Donald Trump and his presidency are going to make their way into the plotline.

Glazer and Jacobson, who are also writers of the show, revealed to The Daily Beast that they had to take a hiatus from writing and producing after being so personally devastated by the election results. Prior to November, the co-workers had written the majority of the season expecting Clinton to be President when it premiered. After their short lapse following the election, the two are back and ready to tackle the serious issues of the Trump administration through mainstream media.

Millenials, and millennial women in particular, get a lot of flack for being image-obsessed, shallow or self-involved because of the way some dress, act and interact with the world. But the truth is, the election was as devastating to young women as it was to many other people in the country. Abbi and Ilana are the perfect characters to show that many women our age care about these issues – they are the voices our generation needs.

So far, Trump and his administration have failed to advance the equal pay movement, attacked Planned Parenthood, cut funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, cut the National Domestic Violence Hotline and made countless other decisions that disadvantage women. Most recently, the White House released a plan to overturn policies in Title XI, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex and covers rules about sexual assault, harassment and misconduct.

While Abbi and Ilana’s characters tend to address these issues from a non-intersectional lens — at the end of the day, they are white, able-bodied, middle-class girls — the issues they address in the show can be relevant to all women. As a non-white woman, the two characters remain extremely relatable and inspiring to me because, when it comes to women’s issues and the Trump administration, we’re all in this together.

While Trump isn’t our President and these policies don’t directly affect us living here in Canada, sexism and anti-women sentiments demonstrated by the President can easily affect the mentality of people living north of the border.

With just over three years left of the Trump presidency, who knows what will happen next. Having strong female voices like Abbi and Ilana in the mainstream media is an important way to make sure our voices continue to be heard. This shows people who may be afraid to vocalize their thoughts and opinions that people feel the same way they do. At least we’re in this together, and we know that Abbi, Ilana, and millions of other women have our backs.

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